The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington Wins Wild Opener!

Episode Date: September 12, 2022

Kevin with his recap of Washington's wild 28-22 season-opening win over Jacksonville. He had his list of things from the game that he liked, didn't like, and added a Carson Wentz grade as well. Brian Mitchell joined Kevin to talk about the opener. Kevin also went "Around the NFL" to discuss a wild Week 1. A few thoughts on Maryland's win, Bama's close call, and more at the end of the show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Heard out eight big test for the young Jacksonville defense. They do bring extra pressure. And Wents is protected for the end zone of Doxon.

He holds it in. It's a touchdown. What a catch by John Dotson in his first game as an NFL player out of Penn State. The first rounder came up with what he's been doing really. all off season, all training camp with an incredible catch, a minute 46 left in the game. You know, Wence didn't have to make

that throw. It was third and eight. They were in easy field goal range for the lead. And he took the chance, he gave his receiver a chance in the end zone on the third and eight. The defender, fortunately, never turned around and Dotson made an incredible catch.

Washington added a two-point conversion on top of that, took a 28-22 lead, and then held on on defense with Derek Forst making an interception at the end off great pressure on Trevor Lawrence with just over a minute to go in the game. Washington wins it, 2822, an incredible wacky back-and-forth opener. I have no idea what we'll think about this game a month from now, two months from now. If we'll look back on it and just say, wow, what an exciting opening game. You know, the back and forth nature of it, Washington looking dead at one point, and then coming back with two big time final drives.

Really exciting game, but really both teams aren't very good. Or will we say in two months, that was the Harbinger. That was the indicator that Washington's got some feistiness, that they've got some resilience. And Jacksonville's not that bad, and that turned out to be a game between two teams that ended up being pretty good. I have no idea, nor do you what we will be saying. few months from now. Only time we'll tell, but we do have a lot to talk about as it relates to that game. Because certainly there was a period of time there. 3.30, 3.40 p.m. somewhere around there, where I thought this show was going to be more like a funeral because they had looked so good in the

first half. They had a double-digit lead. And then, you know, 19 consecutive points, two back-to-back interceptions by Carson Wentz. But look, he dug him into that hole and he helped them climb out of it with two big time drives to win the game. You know, it was one of those games yesterday that was just, you know, back and forth crazy. The one o'clock window for NFL's first Sunday, for the NFL's first Sunday was insane. Two overtime games, big comebacks, huge lead swings. We're going to have a lengthy, full-fledged around the NFL segment and our final segment of the show today, because there's so much to talk about as it relates to the other games, including the other games in the NFC, where the Cowboys now officially will be without Dak Prescott for six to eight

weeks. I shouldn't say officially yet. The reporting is six to eight weeks. Todd Archer, the ESPN writer, the John Kime equivalent reporting that he's out six to eight weeks with a finger slash thumb slash hand injury. And he'll require surgery. I think the Cowboys have to go get themselves a quarterback somewhere. Cooper Rush, you're just admitting, like, you know, a couple of years ago with Ben Danucci. Now they had Andy Dalton. They had Andy Dalton as a backup in that particular season. But wild game for the Giants in a comeback win.

The Eagles had a shootout with Washington's next opponent. That would be the Detroit Lions in Detroit on Sunday. The Eagles hold on for a 38, 35 win. But this game had so much to it at FedEx Field. The inaugural game for the commanders, it was well played at times. It was highly flawed at other times, but it was exciting. There's lots to fix out of this. game. I remember Coach Thompson used to always have this saying that it's a lot easier to get

people's attention to coach your team after a win than it is a loss. Plenty of positive, too. Don't get me wrong. There were mistakes and there's a lot of coaching points that Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio, and Scott Turner can focus on. But there was positive too. It was an offense that we've been talking about all offseason long that we thought could be very dynamic and that should be much improved. And it was, you know, after one game, and again, who knows about the opponent, who knows what we'll be saying about Jacksonville a few weeks from now or a few months from now. But after one game, the offense looks like it has real potential. You know, a high ceiling. I'm talking about a high NFL offense of ceiling.

I'm not talking about compared to what they've had here recently. This is the best potential offense since, you know, the cousins, Garcone, Pierre, Jackson, excuse me, Jordan Reed, Chris Thompson offense. This team's got some real weapons offensively. That's my biggest takeaway from the game. Before we get to the game take where I, you know, give you my list of things that I liked and the things that I didn't like. My biggest takeaway from yesterday is the offense.

The offense has a chance to be an exciting NFL offense this year. They've got talent. They've got offensive playmaking talent. Curtis Samuel, Jehan Dodson, Terry McLaren, you know, all of their backs, Gibson, McKissick, Richardson when he comes back. Logan Thomas. I mean, hell, the Rogers kid, the tight end had a big screen and a 23-yard pickup. Now, the offensive production and the dynamic nature of it and the improved nature of it depends obviously on the consistency from its quarterback. Carson Wentz, in his first game as a Washington commander, provided, you know, four games worth of drama.

He was sharp at times. Other times he was a bit of a mess. It was never dull with him. And that's what you get. You know, I saw the headline that when I came into the studio this morning to get ready for the radio show, the headline on ESPN.com was Carson Wentz provides the full Carson Wentz experience in the opener. And that's what you got. You got the Carson Wentz experience.

This is what people have had issues with. You get really exciting moments in big-time plays by a big-time dude with a big-time NFL arm. And then you get some really, you know, unfortunate and untimely, ill-timed mistakes. You know, it's a lot of what he's been in recent years is what we saw in the opener. Able to keep both teams, excuse me, able to keep both teams in the game simultaneously. We'll go through his day in detail coming up in the recap. Brian Mitchell will join us in the next segment. We'll get B Mitch's thoughts on the season opener as well.

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86690 Nation, windonation.com. That's 86690 Nation or windonation.com. Tell them that I sent you. You'll get a free estimate. All right, let's get to the Game Take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. My Game Take is a list of the things that I liked from the game, a list of the things that I did not like, and a few other observations.

Let's start with what I liked. I like the offense, which Scott Turner gets a ton of credit for sort of designing and play calling around. The offense was what we hoped it would be when we were discussing it, you know, during the offseason. It was at its best, obviously, when it wasn't turning the ball over, which it did at the end of the first half and twice to start the fourth quarter. The three turnovers were hurtful. You know, they nearly cost them the game. But overall, the offense, tough check for Jacksonville.

There's real talent. There's real playmaking ability. There's real make-you-miss ability. There's real speed. There's real quickness. There's real separation ability at the skill spots. has, you know, what the team hasn't had enough of in recent years, and that is a legitimate NFL arm to threaten legitimate NFL defenses.

Scott Turner did a great job, I thought, getting all of his weapons into the game and keeping Jacksonville guessing. He had them off balance on those first two drives. Ten different receivers in the game were targeted. Seven different receivers caught passes. Gibson, more on him coming up, touched it the most. Curtis Samuel was used in so many different ways as a runner, as a receiver. Guys were lined up all over the place.

There were bunches, one bunch of four of Scott Turner's weapons on a third and five on the opening drive of the game. That was impossible to figure out for Jacksonville. There was an empty set. There was a backfield with two guys in it that were known more for pass receiving than running. There was 12 personnel with two tight ends. There were screens. Jacksonville had no idea what was going on at times in that first half. They took shots.

There was patience with the running game. The offense was really good on its first two drives in particular. And the truth is, if not for the Samuel Fumble on the team's fourth overall drive and their last drive in the first half, I'm not sure. this game ends up being competitive. Washington would have gone in for at least a field goal for a 17 to 3 halftime lead and maybe a touchdown and a 21-3 lead. They had 400, nearly 400 yards of offense, 392, I think it was. They scored 28 points. They had 26 first downs. They were 7 of 10 on third downs, in part because they really did a good job of staying ahead of the chains. They had makeable third

downs for the most part. They would have been eight out of ten on third down, but Bates, the tight end, dropped a third and two right in his hands. I think Turner really had Jacksonville guessing on the personnel, you know, who was in at any given time. The offense was outstanding minus the turnovers. And that's a big deal that the offense looked that good. Again, I don't know if Jacksonville's defense played a major part in this. Maybe I'll look foolish, you know, in a few weeks if they get completely shut down by a much better defensive football team. But the offense in Scott Turner's design and play calling and, you know, the challenge he had

of finally having all of these weapons, having Curtis Samuel back in the lineup healthy, you know, adding Jahan Dotson trying to use Gibson more in space. It was impressive. Second thing, specifically on the list of things that I liked as it relates to the offense. I thought Antonio Gibson was excellent. I think he was the offensive star of the game. I know that they tried to essentially replace him as the starting running back. He had been replaced.

Brian Robinson, Jr., before he got shot a few weeks ago, and good news on him, he's supposed to be back and healthy and ready to go in week five, according to some of the reports. But Gibson was kind of relegated to, you know, more of kind of a gadget player. We're going to try to get the ball to Antonio in space. That's where he's really good. He's not so good, you know, between the tackles. I like him as a player.

No, I don't like him as a player. I love him as a player. I mentioned at times during the off-season. I think he's one of the three or four players that actually has a chance to be a star in the league. But they know better than I do. You know, I just thought he was a better inside runner last year. I thought he had developed better vision. You know, he didn't have a lot of experiences as a running back.

They had him in there yesterday. I was wrong about Jonathan Williams. They gave Antonio Gibson the shot. He didn't fumble. They got him in space, but he also ran between the tackles. You know, he was the star of the game, in my opinion. It was close. Samuel, Dotson, pain.

You know, in terms of players that played exceptionally well in the game yesterday. But Antonio Gibson touched it 21 times for 130 total yards. 58 on the ground on 14 carries. That's just over 4 yards per carry. 72 yards on 7 catches. One of the forced punts by Jacksonville in the second half was with Gibson in the locker room getting a. IV. I know they're excited about Brian Robinson, Jr., and it'll be great to see him back when he

comes back. I just really like Gibson. They won four games in a row last year in November into early December because of him more than anybody else. He was a major reason yesterday why they won their season opener over Jacksonville. So was Curtis Samuel. We know what we missed out on last year now. His versatility as a receiver, as a runner, whatever you need him to do is obvious. He's great in space. He's quick and he's fast. He's elusive. He makes people miss.

The fumble was big. They had a chance to push that 14 to 3 lead to 17 or 21 to 3. But a big reason they were up 14 to 3 was him. On the first two drives of the game, Samuel touched the ball six times for 53 yards. As a runner, a receiver, he made defenders look silly in the open field. He had a touchdown catch for the game, 17 yards rushing on four carries, eight catches for 55 yards. Outstanding game from Curtis Samuel. Jahan Dotson's on the list of things and players that I liked. Two touchdown catches, including that incredible catch at the end of the game. He was

open a ton. Would have had a big catch on the first offense. play from scrimmage for Washington, but the throw was late on a play where he was wide open, more on that, because Wentz did miss some people yesterday. He wasn't perfect, you know, minus the two interceptions. He had some inaccuracy issues. Dotson did get blown up on that reverse for a minus 10-yard loss. But two of his three catches for 40 yards were touchdowns. And the touchdown, by the way, on the RPO in the first half, should have been called back. Jayes Harouye was downfield, three, four yards.

The rest just missed it. But Johan Dotson's soft hands and route running and separation ability on display in his first ever game, solid debut for a guy that I've been hearing, you know, off the record stuff, has been their most impressive receiver since the offseason activities began. On the list of players and things that I liked, Duran Pank. his first game in a contract year is the right one to put on tape as he's chasing the bag as Doc likes to say chasing the money here in the offseason. God, he can be so good at times. I wish these previous years he had been a more consistent player. I don't know, maybe this will be the year that

he develops into a consistent player. He had the third down pressure in the hit on Lawrence on Jacksonville's opening drive that forced the field goal. He had the sack in a 22 to 20 game when Jacksonville was driving. They had third and four in Washington territory, and Payne came up with the sack. A huge play in the game. Pain got the sack on that play, which not only really knocked him out of any kind of hope for a long field goal,

which they probably wouldn't have taken, But what it really did was knock out the option of going for it on fourth down. And they punted it back to Washington, and that's when Washington started that final drive that gave him the lead. Payne had two deflected, two blocked passes at the line of scrimmage, both on third downs. He was literally responsible for three second half third down stops by himself. The sack, which got the ball back at the end, and the two jams. Jacksonville drives earlier in the second half on third downs where he deflected block passes. Duran Payne, incredible, impactful, massive impact on the game.

I thought Allen and Sweat were both solid in the game as well. Alan had a sack on a play where he was clearly held. Sweat had really good pressure at times. The final play where Derek Force intercepted Trevor Lawrence, they ran a stunt and sweat got to Lawrence and flushed him out of the pocket, and Lawrence just chucked a duck down there that Forrest caught. But I thought both of those players were really good. But the player that stood out other than Duran Payne the most for me on defense was Derek Forrest. Playing for the injured Cam Curl, Forrest was all over the place. You know, he had the blow-up hit on ETN at the end of the first half,

had the excellent coverage on the play after the third down that forced the field goal that was missed at the end of the first half, you know, back in the end zone. Great coverage there. He had really good coverage on their missed two-point conversion, although I think Lawrence missed the receiver that he should have thrown it to. Had the pick at the end of the game, of course, had, you know, one big play after another. I thought the penalty called on him for unnecessary roughness on the hit on Agnew was a bad call. Agnew was lowering his head simultaneously.

I hate that bang, bang call. Hate it. Forst is physical. He plays with speed, urgency. He was outstanding. You can't keep him off the field. Let me make this point right now before I get to the things that I didn't like, which you'll hear me sort of emphasize this point. You've got to put your best players on the field. Derek Forst is better than some of the players on the field right now. So figure out a way when Cam Curl comes back not to take Derek Forrest off the field. Their linebacking situation is not great. They've got a corner right now that I'm going to talk about

that's not playing, that didn't play well yesterday. Also on the list of things that I liked. How about third downs, both on offense and defense? Again, Duran Payne was so good on third down in the second half. But Jacksonville went three for 12 on third down. That is a good start to the season. Remember, the Chargers were 14 of 18 against Washington last year in the season opener. They got helped out by Jacksonville. More on that coming up. I mean, Trevor Lawrence missed a ton, but still, it was a good job defensively by Washington to hold

them to three for 12. We know how big of an issue third down has been, and they got off the field 75% of the time on third down. Offensively, seven of ten. 10 on third down. Again, the drop by Bates would have made it 8 for 10. Three of the third down conversions on the final two touchdown drives for Washington were really, for me, three of the biggest plays of the game. And really the first one, the third and eight, when they're down 22 to 14 and reeling, and they're on their own 24 with roughly 10 minutes to go, this was a game saver. Versus the Blitz went. picks it up and throws a 27-yard strike to Logan Thomas.

Next play, 49-yard bomb, touchdown Terry McClorn, 22 to 20. It's a two-point game. They missed the two-point conversion, but still, that was massive. That third and eight, you don't convert there and you have to punt it back. I'm not sure Washington gets another chance to legitimately recover from that point in which you would have the two interceptions, you would have the James Robinson touchdown run for the 2214 lead. That third and eight was huge. And then you had a third and ten from your own 36 down 2220 with just over four minutes to go.

That may have been the best pass protection spot of the day versus the Blitz as well. Wentz to Thomas for 14 yards. Move the sticks. Thomas was, he was good. He's going to continue to get better. he's going to be a big time target for Wence. And then the third, Nate, in field goal range, and he takes the shot for Dotson, who makes the great catch.

Bottom line is third down, you go 70% on offense, you hold them to 25% on defense, and you're going to win a lot of games. Two more things on the list of things that I liked. Jacksonville's mistakes were helpful. I mean, I like that. 13 penalties, 90 yards. Two intentional grounding calls against Lawrence. One of them was forced by a corner blitz.

A drop touchdown pass on fourth and goal by ETN. A huge play in the first half. A missed short field goal at the end of the first half. Hit the upright. Lawrence missed so many receivers. He really did. People were open. That is a concern.

You know, Jamon Davis, I don't really feel great about in coverage after watching yesterday, as athletic as he is. ETN was open once wide open. Lawrence missed him. He missed Marvin Jones on a third down, missed Zay Jones on a third goal before the ETN drop. You know, Trevor Lawrence was not great when he completed passes. There was a pass before the drive where ETN didn't get in on fourth and goal after he dropped

the pass. And that was on ETN, not on. on Trevor Lawrence. But he hit ETN down the seam to get it to about the 10-yard line. But he threw it behind him. If he throws it in stride, I think ETN scores. Lawrence got into a rhythm at times, especially at the end of the first half. Bottom line is, though, Jacksonville, there was some self-destruction that really helped Washington out.

There was a roughing the passer penalty in the first half that gave Washington a first down on a third-down miss. but 13 penalties, a drop touchdown pass, a missed field goal. Yeah, that was helpful to Washington. And, you know, the last thing I'll say is you're down 2214 and the stadium's chanting for Heineke and, you know, you are looking at a Monday morning where everybody's looking for a quarterback change, a firing of a head coach, certainly a firing of a defensive coordinator, and they bounce back.

two big time drives to win the game. Again, I don't know if they beat anybody good, but it was a big deal that they were able to come back and win that game. So I give them high marks for resilience and fight, which is really something we've seen with these Ron Rivera teams from the jump. All right, the list of things I did not like. Turnovers, three of them. The Samuel Fumble keeps Jacksonville in the game in the first half.

first Wenson interception, the one where he stares down the throw to Dotson, that's a bad throw. The middle screen that gets picked off by Trayvon Walker, I think that's a hell of a play by Trayvon Walker. He anticipates it. He drops back at the last second, but still, Wence can't make that throw. He's got to be able to see that. They won a game with a minus two turnover margin, with, by the way, the three turnover is coming, end of the first half when you had a chance to score and then twice in your own territory in the fourth quarter. You're not going to survive that more often than not. Also on the things that I did not like list, their rush defense. This is something I talked about last week. I have a concern this year. I didn't think they were great

against the run, even though the advance numbers said they were great against the run last year. I didn't think they stopped the run. I didn't think they stopped the run when they needed to stop the run last year. 18 carries 123 yards for Jacksonville, 6.8 yards per carry. You know, they got gashed at times. I'm surprised Jacksonville threw it 42 times and only ran at 18. I know they were down double digits, but that's probably one of those things that today, the Jacksonville fan is saying, why didn't we run it more with Robinson in ETN?

There were missed tackles. I think that was a problem. Holcomb missed Robinson on the touchdown run. that made it 22 to 14. Obata missed on the big E.TN run that started off the drive for Jacksonville when they were up 22 to 20. I thought the Rivera challenge was not wise. The grounding penalty that Rivera was trying to get them to look at as a potential

fumble didn't look like he was going to win that challenge. In a close game in the fourth quarter, risking a timeout for a play that looked like a tough overturn to me was not a good decision. One last thing added to the list of things that I didn't like, and that is William Jackson wasn't very good yesterday. I went back and watched some of the secondary. I wanted to see Forrest, who was great. I wanted to see Fuller a little bit. He had those back-to-back penalties. That was a rough first half for him, but Fuller's a good player. William Jackson was lost yesterday at times. I think a good quarterback, and Trevor Lawrence is really a work in progress at this point.

I think a good quarterback may have shredded this team yesterday. Now, they're not playing a lot of good quarterbacks this year. We may get Cooper Rush in a few weeks. The next two weeks are, you know, you get next week you get Jared Goff. He's not, you know, he's not terrible, especially if they're running the football and they can get him into boot and play action stuff. And then you get Jalen Hertz totally different kind of quarterback, but I think a really good quarterback would have torched this team yesterday, and I thought Jackson really, really struggled. All right, other observations that don't fit nicely into the bucket of things that I liked are the things that I did not like. Let's start with Wence's overall grade and, you know, my evaluation of them. It was a mixed

day. If you call it anything but that, you're either a hater or you're, you know, such a naive you know, Wence believer. It was a mixed day. He was sharp at times. He looked good early. He looked good late. The third down throws on the final two drives big time. The bomb to McClure, big time. His ability to bounce back off of that dreadful stretch of two possessions, two interceptions, which had totally turned the game towards Jacksonville, was really impressive, the resilience to bounce back off of that with the two touchdown drive.

and the three big time third down conversions, really good. You know, the two things that we've talked about, Wence, outside of all of the other stuff, you know, relationships, leadership, getting along with, all of that stuff, the two things that we've talked about that have been the criticisms of Wence and legitimate criticisms of Wence,

decision-making and accuracy. We saw it on display yesterday. He was inaccurate at times. Missing some wide-open receivers. and then the decision making was a problem. His day overall, 27 of 41, 313 yards, four touchdowns. But then you had the two picks. But the 27 of 41 could have been better.

There were people wide open. He was a guy yesterday. I said this this morning. He made enough place to win the game for his team and enough to lose the game all in the same game. I had him as a B minus C plus. What is obvious, though, to me, after one game and even some of the preseason stuff, he's better than what they've had.

His supporting cast is a really good one too, but his ceiling, as we've talked about all along, is higher than anybody they've had since Kirk. And the offense with the weaponry is the best opportunity they have for a really good offense since, you know, it was Cousins and Pierre and Jackson and Jordan Reed and Chris Thompson. Other observations. I thought Del Rio was pretty good with his play calling in the first half in particular. He seemed to anticipate bootlegs and, you know, play action with corner blitzes. One of the corner blitzes, I think it was from St. Juice caused one of the two intentional grounding calls.

I thought that Trey Turner, who was the backup to Schweitzer to start but came in and played the majority of the snaps, did a nice job. And, oh, I thought the crowd was really good. And people that were there said it was excellent. And it felt that way watching it on TV. It felt like it was the first home game in a long time. Maybe since the Giants game last year on Thursday night, I know there were a lot of giant fans. there, but it was a good crowd and, you know, kind of a mixed crowd, but, you know, an excited crowd, and it was a close game, too. But I do know this, and I know that some of you would

tweet me this, because you already have after the radio show, that there were Jacksonville fans there. This idea that there were no Jacksonville fans there, apparently, was not necessarily accurate. Also, by the way, the injury to Phil Mathis may be a serious one. You may know what the answer to this is by the time you listen to this podcast. But if he's injured and out for a while, they're going to have to go find some backup defensive tackles. Trayvon Walker, the number one, number one overall. Wow, what a debut performance by him.

That's in my observation category. I'm not going to really spend a lot of time on MugGate. If you don't know what that is, they had these mugs, coffee mugs, with the W logo on the state of Washington, like the actual state that Seattle is in. The team tried to pass it off as kind of like an outside vendor thing, but apparently it wasn't. I know Tommy will want to weigh in on that.

And look, you know, I thought at first they may have been, it may have been a fake thing, but it turns out it was actually true. They won the game yesterday, so on the field things were, you know, were decent. It's still amazing to me. It is, and, you know, this is where I'm going to end it, how they don't have some sort of quality check person out there.

Like, before this goes out, somebody read it. Before this thing goes out, somebody check it out to make sure that the W logo isn't on the state of Washington. All right, when we come back, Brian Mitchell will be my guest right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right. Jumping on the podcast with me right now is one of the all-time greats of the franchise number 30, Brian Mitchell, who hosts 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on our sister station on 980s, Sister Station 10.67, The fan. And of course, Brian's a big part of the NBC Sports Washington coverage on games.

game days as well. All right, we got one in the books. Give me your overall takeaways from the 2822 win. A lot of mistakes need to be corrected. I think Carson went showed you how good he can be, and he showed you how bad he can be. I really believe this receiving core is something special. Defense, it's a lot of things need to be done with the defense. You know, transatliftian drops a touchdown. They was wide open going into. end zone. They miss a field goal. You look at that, they just make that touchdown hit the field goal. A game goes a different

direction. I think the last pass, many people go great bro. It was great concentration on the young kid, John Dawson. I think if the defensive back turns right, I'd slap the ball down. But ultimately, you get a victory. Sometimes you don't play your best. You get a victory, and you're

happy about that. But as Coach Thompson would always say, when you win, I can be a little harder on the guys. in because they're happy. And I think this is a situation where Ron and his coaches have to take the opportunity to make sure that the guys are going to say, you won that one. But you were playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. You're not going to beat some other teams playing that type of way.

You know, it's so funny as you said that. I think between all of us at the station all those years, all of us quote, coach, so many times, you know. Because I said earlier, I said, you know, one of the things coach used to say, and you just said it, it's a lot easier to get your message across while you're winning, you know? And by the way, it's okay not to be good now. You want to be good later, but when you get good, you want it to mean something. So, you know, they won a game where they were imperfect.

And yeah, I think everybody that was there at the station for all of those years just breaks out the occasional coach Thompson line because they were always so spot on too, you know? But anyway. He dropped a lot of great nuggets, man. Yeah. I don't think we all realize exactly how blessed we were to be working with him and dealing with him because, you know, coach was a guy who he had his, eyes and ears on everything. All you do is listen to him. And I think a lot of times when I see things,

and I hear some of these coaches making comments, I think of things I heard from him. I think of things I heard from John, I mean, from my coach, Jard Gibbs, and also Andy Reid. And I'm like, okay, this coach thinks he's great, but he doesn't have any sense of what's really happening. And I always wonder why can't a lot of them just go back and look at some of the old coaches to figure it out.

Yeah, it's so true. I do and I have, and I remember even, you know, when we were all there occasionally saying how lucky we are to kind of be there, you know, in that bullpen. And, you know, you guys doing the show right after ours and be able to talk to coach and all those days, you know, it was, it really was, it was an incredible blessing. All right, back to the game. So, so Carson, once we saw what he's good at, we saw what he's bad at, the ESPN.com. headline this morning was Washington gets the Carson Wentz experience in the opener, and that's what it is. But on that second interception by Walker, the number one overall pick, was that just a great

anticipatory play by him, or does Wentz have to see that? Whence has to see that, because if you go back and you look at that play, Antonio Gibson is about another three, four yards away from where. the kid that intercepted the ball was. He threw the ball straight to the guy. The guy didn't have to move. He threw it straight to his chest. Antonio had, like, when you run a screen,

you go up, you try to make him think you block him, and then you go out behind the tackle. He was over behind the tackle. You know, now, the kid might have made a great play on it anyway. Trayvon Walker might have been a great play on it anyway to probably tackle him or something, but he wouldn't intercept the ball. If the ball was thrown to where Antonio Gibson was,

that dude doesn't touch that football. Yeah, and that dude, the number one overall pick in the draft, Trayvon Walker had a hell of a first game of his NFL career. How much credit, you said something in the open, you said they've really got weapons offensively, and I think that that's true. And I think we've all been talking about it to a certain degree since, you know, last year ended, and they drafted Dotson and they were getting Samuel hopefully back healthy. How much credit do you give Scott Turner for scheming it up pretty well yesterday? I give him a lot of credit because I went to the game saying, you know, we have seen what Curtis Samuel was capable of. We know what McLaren is capable of.

We've seen all the things adopting and also heard stuff. Now, will the coach be able to utilize all that? Also, you're throwing Gibson, you're throwing Logan Thomas being back, and you have McKissick as well. And I said going into the game is not to me, what the players are going to do, how will Scott scheme it up? Because I've been a big fan of North Turner, okay, Scott's dad. And I've always felt that, you know, Scott gets a lot of his stuff because of who he is,

he's not turning his son. And I wanted to see if he can try to scheme something up. And yesterday, he looked very good scheming it up. You know, now when we begin to go against some teams with better defensive backs and things of that nature, we'll see if they can keep it going. because, you know, I always see stuff that a lot of people don't see. I saw many things that could have happened yesterday, and this game could have completely went the other way.

And I just want to see those things corrected. So this team can go on. Let's start having some three-four game win streaks instead of have one slip back, have one slip back. I'm sick and tired of saying that. You know, in mentioning Norv Turner, and you've told me this in the past, Norv obviously liked you a lot too and trusted you implicitly. remember you telling me the story about how essentially Heath Shuler at times couldn't be understood,

and you were the only one that knew the whole playbook, and you had to help him in the huddle, and Norv trusted you to do that. What do you think? Like I said at the beginning of the show, I don't know that any of us have a clue as to what we'll look back on the opener as. You know, will we look back on it and say, well, it was a hell of a game. It was an exciting game, but these were two, you know, subpar teams. Or will we look back on it? And will we look back on it and say, well, it was a hell of a game? It was an exciting game. It was an exciting game. And, but these are two, or will we look back on it two months from now and say, you know what, it was a harbinger of things to come, you know, getting that win.

And Jacksonville, by the way, isn't that bad. How will, predict how you think it'll look two months from now in the rear view? Well, the thing about it, if they go on a win streak, if they end up doing something good, you can always look at that game and say, you know what, although it wasn't pretty, they found the way. And I think you can get some positive out of that. You know, now if things begin to go south, we can't basically get anything from that football game.

But I think what we saw is exactly what we believe. When Curtis Samuel is healthy, he's special. Terry McLaurin has been special since he got here. You drafted John Dawson because you thought this guy can play, and he showed all that yesterday. What was Carson went? Exactly what you thought. Logan Thomas, I felt, wasn't ready,

but I think they wanted to have him out there. If you look at the one play he caught up the left side, he basically had that limp. and when he went to make a move, he had to hurt him pull his foot up. So is he completely ready to go yet? I don't know. I think the knee brace is kind of hindering them. And then when you flip it over, the defense.

Are they better than what we thought they were? They basically went out with a few more people now. They found somebody in Derek Morris. That kid will thump you. But he's going to have to learn how to play within the rules because he's on the edge. And I think the league today, you know, they throw flags for just about anything

because when they call the flag on him for unnecessary wrestling the running back lower his head. Yeah, exactly. And Derek was trying to get under him. So, you know, it's just that the way that the game is played, but the defense, the secondary to me, I kept saying a lineback in Corps was going to be the weekend. Secondary is not very good as far as the covering, okay, on the edges. And I don't know what defense they were running, but you do not have Jamie Davis

covering Christian Kirk. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. and that happened at least 10 times. Yeah, I don't, I did. If it happened 10 times, well, that's malpractice. I mean, he couldn't check ETN out of the backfield a couple of times. Yeah. He ended up, the linebacker ended up on the like slot receiver and things of that nature.

I'm like, that doesn't make, I know they say he can run, but I don't see the, like coach always say, you know, how he could have twinkle toes and he can move his hips. Yeah. Jaman can't move his hip like that. Well, I think you said something earlier. I think, you know, Jacksonville helped out a lot yesterday. They had 13 penalties. They had a drop touchdown pass on fourth and goal. They missed a field goal. And Trevor Lawrence missed a lot. There were people open. And he missed them throughout the day. And look, Carson Wentz missed some too. I mean, Jehan was open on the first play of the game. Logan was open on another big play and then he hit some big ones as well. Defensively, you've already mentioned Derek Forrest. I talked. a lot about in the open of this podcast about the player that I thought was great on defense, and I'm wondering if somebody else stuck, you know, sort of stood out to you. Well, Jonathan, I mean, Jonathan Allen, but he's always like that.

He was playing great for me early on. Then he got nicked up a little bit. I love Derek Forrest, and St. Juice did some good things for me as well. You know, but, and then I think the kid who we all expect to have that kind of contract here at Ron Payne was a man-child. Exactly. He had, and that's the type of games he's going to have to have. This team has decided they wouldn't go exercise his option.

A lot of other teams are still trying to see what he's about. I think he can't. He started love yesterday with a bang. I mean, as Doc said, he's chasing the bag this year. And he put a hell of a game on tape. One of the concerns I had going into this season, and it's only because they were going to be facing a lot of teams that are run first teams, and they didn't face those teams last year.

They got run on yesterday. They got gashed to the tune of 6.8 yards per carry. Are you concerned about their run defense after week one? I am. I was concerned all last year, and I know we got, we put more focus on third down efficiency, and they were horrible in that sense. But last year, every time someone had to run, they ran on us.

Yeah, I agree. And what I see, I see the, like, we put a lot of, of investment into the defensive line. And what I watch, although those guys can play the run, I think most of them are trying to get to the quarterback. They're taking size. And you know what? When you take size in a running game, that's the best thing for offensive line and for a

running back. If you're going to jump to the right or left, you're just telling me where the hole is. And I think they do a lot of that. So they're going to have to learn how to take that. And then Fadarian Mathis gets hurt, and they thought he could be that guy who could be a space eater and can like jam somebody in the middle and clawing up things. He got hurt early, but you can't be just going for the quarterback. You've got to find a way to stop the run on the way to the quarterback. Back to the offense, because, you know, you discussed Curtis Samuel and Jehan Dodson and Terry

McLorn and Logan Thomas and the weapons that they have. We haven't talked enough about Antonio Gibson. Gibson, you know, just two weeks ago, you know, was for all intents and purposes, demoted and we were going to see him in space, but we weren't going to see him as the starting back. Brian Robinson Jr. was going to be that. What did you make of his performance yesterday? I think he played well. They utilized him a little bit more in the passing game, which I've been hearing about that since he got here, and they have never done it. They kind of just kept him running the football. But I think they're looking at that. Even if Robinson comes back and he's well, I think Gibson is going to be used more in the passing game than he would.

be the running game. Because you saw some plays like, I'm watching yesterday, and I'm seeing guys get hit, like receivers, and then they bouncing off, especially Samu, bouncing off of getting other plays, making moves and things that nature. When I see Gibson get hit a lot of time, it goes down. Robinson, I can see not doing the guy who's going to go down.

So he can be that work hard for you in that sense, and he can also catch the ball out of the backfield, but you use Gibson in different ways where you're going to have lineback and follow him. And I think you're going to make some teams has to have a safety follow him, which can give you a distinct advantage offensively. So Gibson played terrific yesterday, and his whole thing is just holding on to the football. You know, as well as he played yesterday, if he falls back into what he normally does

and let another ball hit the ground, he may be sitting on the sideline for a long time. So he has to focus on that, and it just comes down to a mental mindset, a little mental reminder of every time I'm about to get tacked, every time I'm going to a crowd, put one more hand on the football. All right. I don't think we learn anything in preseason personally other than some player evaluation. You learn when they start playing the real games, and sometimes you don't really learn about a team for several weeks. But what did we learn, if anything, about this team yesterday?

Well, we learned that they have talent. I can say also I look at some situations where I think they're not completely in football shape just yet. I looked at – I started the opening game of the season when we saw two very, very talented teams in the Rams and the Bills playing. and you saw that the lack of preseason hurt the Rams. Okay? When you go out there and you get four turnovers and the teams still beat you 31-10, it says a lot about your preparation.

And I just think, you know, we all are now in the mindset that, oh, guys can't get hurt. People get hurt. And if guys don't play full-speed and preseason or at least get enough of pre-season to get their feet wet, when they finally start going full-speed

for the most part, if you were going to get hurt, you're probably going to get hurt. You know, that's just the way things go. I think that we've heard the notion that, well, our team starts slow, then they play strong later. I don't want them to start slow. They won yesterday, and I'm happy about that because I felt that the first two games are must-winned. Because if we're going to get into a situation where we can play strong late, we already need to have a certain base to where we're ahead, we're farther ahead,

then we are behind. Because when you dig a hole, you make the remaining games, you have to be damn near perfect. And I don't think we need to be that. But what we learn is that the offense can be potent if they can just stay healthy and stay in tune. And the defense has a lot of growing to do. And that's the team that's a side that's supposed to be leading the team for the last three years. They need to step up and do it. That can come back to honor.

Yeah. Finishing strong doesn't mean you have to slow start slow. Exactly. All right. Last one. What's your early gut feel about Detroit? I think Detroit is going to make it into a fist fight. You know, Detroit was down against Philly, and they lost that game 3835.

So as much as people like to talk about Jared Goss, Jared Goss can put the ball down the field. But DeAndre Swift had 100 and something yards on 13 carries yesterday. So you just mentioned we got run on. We better be able to stop the run against them, or we can have a lot of problems. and that little key, what, Romaine, what is his name?

Armand Ross, St. Brown. Yeah, the receiver. Yeah. They got all these different funny names for me now. But that kid can play. But I say this, they are going to come to fight. They will play hard,

you know, play hard from start to finish. And I think we need a game like that. Yeah, I mean, the next two opponents, Detroit and Philadelphia, can run the football. So stopping the run will be huge the next two weeks. Thank you for doing this. Good to catch up.

you're well 10 to 2 on 1067 the fan with JP and then obviously pregame in game post game on NBC sports Washington Sundays around the commanders games thanks I'll talk to you soon I can't take care brother all right we'll go around the NFL and talk about a wild week one and also look back to Saturday a crazy college football Saturday the Terps one that sets up a huge one for them on Saturday night. That and a lot more when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, week one

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And that's where we will start in Dallas last night, which capped off the first NFL Sunday of the year, a wild, exciting, thrilling, insane first Sunday of the year. Last night's game between the Bucks and the Cowboys was the most boring of the 14 played yesterday. But of course, the injury to Dak Prescott is big news coming out of that one. Let's start there because before he got injured, he wasn't very good. The team wasn't very good.

Defensively, Micah Parsons was outstanding. Two sacks, multiple pressures. I thought DeMarcus Lawrence really looked good for them defensively as well. They actually did defensively a really good job against the Bucks in particular on third down, but they couldn't stop the run, which was a problem. Leonard Fournett real quickly before we get to the whole Calais, Cowboys situation, I thought he looked about as good as Leonard Fournettes looked as a pro, period. He looked faster.

I don't know, he must have lost weight. He went for 127 yards on 21 carries. That's six yards of tote. And the addition of Julio Jones to the team is a rather intriguing one. They used Julio on a couple of reverses and I think a fly sweep in there at some point. they still have the weapons. I don't know if they've got the offensive line, and they lost Donovan Smith at one point last night.

Tampa Bay was clearly the better team. They win the game going away 19 to 3. The game was never competitive. And Dallas's defense was okay. As I mentioned, their offense was horrible. And even before Dak Prescott got injured, they really weren't very good. I tweeted this out late third quarter last night.

just watching that game. I swear to you, Mike McCarthy has to be in major trouble. They are the least disciplined team we've seen in the league over the last two plus seasons now. Mike McCarthy's team led the league last year in penalties. They had another 10 last night. They looked so ill-prepared for the opener. He looks clueless all the time. I'm not sure over the last two plus years if there's been a sloppier team or a dumber team in the league than the Cowboys.

Now, I understand they've had some results here. They got to the postseason last year. They won the division, you know, with DAC back. But their offense was awful last night. And it did not look like it was heading anywhere great this year. It's week one. We've already explained the week one, you know, head fake. It's fools' goal. Dallas looked terrible, though, last night on offense. And now they'll be without their starting quarterback, Dak Prescott, for, you know, according to reports, six to eight weeks with the thumb slash hand injury. So what does Dallas do? They've got to go get somebody. I think this is going to be a really interesting couple of days in Dallas. Because if they don't go hard after, let's say, a Tyler Huntley or a Jimmy Garoppel.

I don't even know if either one of those two would be available. They shouldn't be. I mean, Huntley is a hell of a backup in Baltimore. And Trey Lance, you know they're not convinced yet of Trey Lance in San Francisco. So it would not surprise me if Garoppolo is going to play at some point. Drew Locke got beat out by Gino Smith, but John Schneider likes Drew Locke. But they've got to go try to make a move, don't they? If they don't make a move, it is essentially telling the team, we don't think we're very good.

because Cooper Rush, bless his heart, they're not winning games with Cooper Rush. You know, this is going to be the situation that it was two years ago with Danucci and, you know, Dalton was a much better answer, clearly. But, you know, Andy Dalton. Maybe Andy Dalton is the answer for Dallas. I don't know. I'm looking up his contract right now. It just sort of occurred to me.

He's the backup for James in New Orleans. New Orleans has a competitive team. They're not going to trade Dalton. They're not getting rid of Dalton, no way. Especially to an NFC team. You know, Dalton, Winston engineered a great comeback yesterday. There's no way that they are going to believe that Winston is going to remain upright all season long because he's been injured, was injured last year, obviously.

And the Saints have a pretty decent team. I picked him to go to the Super Bowl. They almost lost to Atlanta in the opener. But man, the Cowboys, I don't. got to think, have to make a move. Now, they have the Bengals this week at home. Then they're in New York against the Giants. Then they play Washington at home.

Then they're at Rams, at Eagles versus Lions, and the Bears at home. That is their next seven games, which will put them right in the six to eight range. You know, you'd have to think that if they could go find an answer at quarterback, something adequate, they could still win some of those games. You know, the Giants, Washington, the lions, the bears, and really what they need to do is just try to tread water, you know, be a game, somewhere around a game below 500, worst case when DAC comes back. But even before that injury last night, they looked terrible. I briefly thought that Zeke Elliott looked a little bit better last night, and he did average over five yards per carry. but when they got behind, they had to go exclusively to the air.

And C.D. Lamb, I know people are convinced he's a number one upper echelon guy. I just have not bought into that. As most of you know, I mean, I think they lost a lot, obviously, with Cooper. But I just don't see it in Lamb. He drops balls. He seems a little bit, you know, casual, too casual at times. They have a decent defense, I think, although they couldn't stop the wrong. run last night. But the Cowboys in big trouble. I mean, after the Sunday night opener, the Cowboys now are, you know, a big question mark as to whether or not they can even end up with something approaching, you know, a 500 mark. They are now the division, you know, I'll look at the updated odds on division right now at my bookie, because I am interested to see what the updated

NFC East odds are if they have updated them this morning. Let's just see. NFNFC divisional odds. The current NFC East. Okay. I mean, Philadelphia now a prohibitive favorite to win the division at minus 175. The Cowboys are at plus 440. Washington's at plus 460 and the Giants are at plus 590. So there you go.

I mean, the Eagles, the Cowboys still the second pick is a little bit surprising, to be honest with you. but I think they got to go get a quarterback. I do. 19 to 3, the most boring game on what was a pretty exciting first Sunday of this season. Let's stay in the division and head to Detroit. Under pressure, golf hit as he throws, it was deflected by Kaiser White, and James Bradbury has his first Philadelphia pick, and it's a pick six. A shootout at Ford Field, Washington's next opponent.

The Lions getting two home games to open up the season. The Eagles did lead this game 38 to 21 in the fourth quarter, but the Lions didn't give up. They scored back-to-back touchdowns, and their last touchdowns still came with close to four minutes left in the game. So if they could have gotten a stop and gotten a ball back, they may have had a chance to win, but that was the problem.

They could not get Philadelphia off the field, and Philadelphia ran out the last four minutes of the clock. The Eagles were sensational on offense. Jalen Hertz accounted for 33 yards of total offense, 90 on the ground on 17 carries, 243 through the air. No touchdowns throwing, no interceptions. He did have a read-option keeper for a touchdown to get Philly on the board when they fell behind seven. nothing. They were unstoppable offensively. Sanders had 96 yards. As a team, they generated 455 yards of offense, and AJ Brown in his first game as an eagle, 10 catches 155 yards. Now, alarming for the Eagles would be what I think on paper looks like a good defensive team

being absolutely shredded by Detroit. DeAndre Swee, 15 carries 144 yards. Goff was 21 to 37, 2115 yards, two touchdowns. Amon Ross St. Brown had a big day for them. The Lions, you know, remember last year what we talked about with respect to the Lions is that they were in so many games that they lost. Even going back to the early portion of the season, you know, they started off 0 and 8 and then went to like 010 and 1, you know, their first 9.

loss was a tie to the Steelers, but a lot of those games were winnable. You know, they lost on the Justin Tucker 66-yard record-setting field goal. They lost at the gun to Minnesota on a field goal. They had a close game in the opener against the 49ers, a competitive loss to the Rams. The one team that destroyed them was the Eagles. And then they lost close games to Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta, and they beat Minnesota. the Cardinals, and Green Bay to end the year. Now Green Bay to wouldn't play anybody

because they had already clinched the one seed. But Detroit, a lot of people like Detroit coming into this season because they thought they were competitive last year and they had gotten better. And year two of Dan Campbell and, you know, Hard Knocks is always influential with this kind of stuff. But they were really explosive offensively. DeAndre Swift, you know, has been a guy now, you know,

in his third year. year, right? I think it's his third year out of Georgia when he was, you know, a potential first round pick, but went in the second round. He had some big games last year, especially when you got into November. And then he got hurt and missed a few games. But he had like back-to-back big games against Pittsburgh and Cleveland's defense. Washington's got to be careful. We talked about it in the open, but Detroit can run the football. Meantime, Philadelphia, the number one rush offense in the league last year, 216 total. rushing yards. They win 38 to 35 and they get a week two matchup on Monday night football next week.

There's a double header of Monday night football next week. Buffalo and Tennessee and then that starts at seven and then Philly hosts Minnesota at 830. That's a big early season NFC game between the Eagles and the Vikings. Let's stay in the NFC East and let's head to Nashville for an incredible giant comeback. James the motion man. Shovel, Barkley, breaks a tackle, dives in for two. Giants take the lead.

How about Brian Dable in his first game is the Giants head coach going for two late in that game after the Giants had driven the ball, 12 plays 73 yards, down 20 to 13. big time drive by them, big time game from Saquan Barkley. I want to just make sure one thing's clear. When you go for two with a minute six left in the game, you're not going for the win. You know, that was ballsy.

I'm not saying that it wasn't. Personally, I don't think that's the right thing to do with a minute six left in the game. Because Tennessee's got plenty of time as they did to get into not only field goal range, but, you know, very easy field goal range. He was a 46-yarder. It wasn't like it was a super long kick, and Bullock missed it. And so the Giants held on. But, you know, you go for the win going for two when they're like 15 seconds left in the game.

And the other team just isn't going to have enough time to get into field goal range to beat you. A minute six left, he loved the play they had. I'll tell you what, it was Sequin Barclay was kind of penned in, and he just made a great play. You know, the kind of play that the number two overall pick in a draft needs to make. Hell of a comeback by the Giants who were really throttled in the first half. I mean, it was 13-0. It really could have been worse. The Giants punted in the first half.

They punted six times in the first half and fumbled on their other drive. I mean, they got nothing going. And then the first two drives of the second half, touchdowns, They missed an extra point, which put them in that position at the end, needing to go for two. But they really, really had a hell of a second half. Daniel Jones slow start ended up 17 of 21 for a buck 88 and two touchdown passes. Saquan Barkley, 18 carries 164 yards, 9.1 yards per carry. He also had six catches for 30 yards.

a big time game from him. Derek Henry was pretty damn good for Tennessee, as was Ryan Tannahill. He got him in great field goal range, and they just could not close the deal. The Giants come out of the opener Brian Dables first with a big, big win. I don't think, and I said this going into the season, that the Giants, I didn't think the Giants were going to be terrible. I thought they had a chance to be a competitive team. They get the Panthers in their home opener and then they get the Cowboys potentially with Cooper Rush and then the Bears.

The Giants are staring at a possibility of a really strong start to the season and much more of a factor potentially. It's one week, but that was a solid comeback from them and you've just got a more organized

incompetent coaching staff there. And if Barkley is back and remains healthy, they've got a major difference maker. in their backfield. Giants 2120 winners over Tennessee. Let's stay in the NFC and go to Minneapolis for the Packers and the Vikings. Guys and over the middle. How is he that wide open?

Jefferson again inside the tan legging for the end zone. Touchdown! Boy, there were several stories coming out of this game. Justin Jefferson, obviously, one of the big stories. nine catches, 184 yards, two touchdowns. But really, a lot of the discussion I would imagine is about Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers was really frustrated. The opening play of the game, he throws a bomb to his second round pick Christian Watson out of North Dakota State.

And it's a touchdown. Watson's got 10 yards on the nearest defender, Patrick Peterson, and he dropped the football. And, you know, Aaron Rogers was critical of himself, but he was critical as to how unprepared and really how disorganized they were. His quote is, there's expectation for whoever's in there that they're going to play well. We had a lot of chances today. I'm not taking anything away from their defense, but we hurt ourselves many times, myself included. And he went on and on about, you know, this being a difficult situation. yesterday for them.

A lot of the receivers he didn't feel like knew what was going on and knew what they were doing. Maybe the Packers should have played all of their starters a lot more in the preseason. Don't forget, the Packers opened up the season last year with a 38 to 3 loss in Jacksonville against the Saints. The game was moved because of the hurricane in the Gulf. And so the Packers lost 38 to 3 and went on to generate the best record in the NFC. Now, will that happen with how? the likes of Devante Adams or Valdez Scantling, et cetera.

They didn't have Lazard. They didn't have their starting left tackle. They were missing key pieces. But that game 23 to 7 goes Minnesota's way. And I picked Minnesota to win the NFC North. I think a lot of that was contingent on their defense being improved from last year, getting DeNeal Hunter back, signing Zadaria Smith. He had a great game in his first game back.

playing the Vic Fangio scheme with Ed Donatelle as the defensive coordinator. They were horrible on defense last year. They were horrible on special teams as well. If they're improved defensively, if they're improved special teams-wise, they've got what it takes offensively. I mean, Dalvin Cook and Madison combined for a buck 26. Kirk had a solid day, 23 of 32, 277 yards, two touchdowns, no picks. And with Jefferson and Thielen and Osborne, and they've got Irv Smith, who I don't, maybe he made a catch yesterday.

I don't know. I'm coming off the injured season from last year, Minnesota could be a dangerous football team. The Vikings and the Eagles next week on Monday Night Football should be a good one, as mentioned. Let's shift to the AFC and find out how it went for Patrick Mahomes without Tareke Hill. Second and goal. He lost it to the end zone and it is caught by Kelsey for the touchdown. Right over Isaiah Simmons. 11 plays down the field.

I know Tariq Hill, no problem for Kansas City. Patrick Mahomes, 30 at 39, 360 yards, five touchdowns for all intents and purposes in three quarters because they took the gas off the pedal in the fourth quarter. 44 to 21 over Arizona, a complete shalacking of the Cardinals who looked awful yesterday. Travis Kelsey, eight catches, Juju Smith-Schuster, six catches, Valdez Scantling, four catches. Sky Moore, the rookie who I like a lot, a catch for 30 yards. In many ways, they probably were more difficult to plan for because there wasn't to re-kill, and you didn't know where the ball was going.

I mean, ultimately, in the game yesterday, nine different pass catchers caught balls for the chiefs. Mahomes looked spectacular. You know, last year I said a couple of times during the course of the year, he looks bored. Maybe the challenge of not having to re-kill and not, by the way, getting to the Super Bowl last year, losing a championship game at home,

may have him motivated. But we'll see on Thursday night against the Chargers and a huge showdown against them. What about the Chargers? How did they make out in their opener against an AFC West upgraded rival, the Raiders? Let's find out. Swater, another point.

Here we go! Caught! Touchdown! Carter! What a grab! Justin Herbert, three touchdown passes, including that one to D'Andre Carter. Yeah, our D'Andre Carter from last year.

Three catches, 64 yards. in his charger debut, including that touchdown catch from Justin Herbert. He actually did not have a chance to return a punt. Vegas didn't punt in the game. Part of the reason they didn't punt in the game is they had three interceptions in the game. Derek, a car with a tough day, 22 or 37, 295 yards, two touchdowns, three picks, sacked five times in the game. Devonte Adams and his debut, 10 catch.

and a buck 41 and the Raiders got back into this thing. They were down 24 to 10. They got it to 2419 and got the ball back with three and a half minutes to go. Couldn't do anything with it. The Chargers win 24 to 19 and that sets up a massive game on Thursday night. Keenan Allen left the game. I'm not sure what his status will be for Thursday night. Certainly they need all of their weapons to keep up with the Chiefs. But that AFC West should be something all year, and the Chargers open up with a home win over the Raiders, although really all of those games in L.A. for the Rams and the Chargers feel like road games.

Just, you know, Vegas has a lot of opposing fans, but L.A., man, neither team, even the Super Bowl champion Rams, is really taken over the city at this point. You get a lot of people that say, why not L.A. for the weekend? That felt like a Raiders crowd if you were watching any of that game. Let's stay in the AFC, but go to the AFC North for really the wackiest game of the day between the Bengals and the Steelers. Boswell trying to get it done. Snap placement kick on the way. Boswell, that's a winner.

Unforgettable season opener. And the Steelers outlast the Bengals. Chris Boswell from 53 yards out in overtime, the final play of overtime to beat the Bengals 2320. Where to start in this one. Joe Burrow, five turnovers, four interceptions and a fumble, and still, all they needed was an extra point from Evan McPherson, the kicker of the playoffs last year on the final play of the game, which was a touchdown by Cincinnati, to win it, 21 to 20.

He missed it. It was blocked. Mika Fitzpatrick blocked it. They had a field goal attempt in overtime from Mr. McPherson. And from, how long was that field goal? That field goal was a 29-yard field goal. I was going to say it was 30-something. It was a 29-yard field goal. Not a great snap. The operation was a little bit off.

McPherson misses from 29 yards out. The Bengals had every chance in the world with five turnovers, five, a missed extra point, to still win that game in overtime. But they didn't. I wouldn't be concerned about Cincinnati personally, and I wouldn't be concerned about Burrough's four picks. Remember, Burrow got sacked nine or ten times in that playoff game against Tennessee and still somehow ended up slinging it at the end of that game to win it.

And he almost pulled it off yesterday as well. Jamar Chase, by the way, I know that there's an argument. on best receiver in the league. Devante Adams, Justin Jefferson. I'm not so sure it isn't Jamar Chase. Ten catches 129 yards in his first game in year two. The big news for Pittsburgh is the very likely loss of the reigning defensive player of the year, T.J. Watt. Injured in the fourth quarter, left arm was hanging, you know, by his side, and they fear that this could be a torn peck, which would be, you know, essentially losing him for the year. And that is a massive blow to not only Pittsburgh, but really the league.

I mean, Watt was at his best to yesterday. He picked off a pass in the first quarter. He was wreaking havoc on the game yesterday. Not to have those kinds of players for potentially full seasons is always disappointing, whether it's at the quarterback position or a player like Watt. you know, to not have him more likely than not for the rest of the season. We'll get a, you know, an official, I'm sure injury report from Pittsburgh today. But the Steelers win the game, 2320.

And I don't know, man, Mike Tomlin, he just figures it out. Mitch Trubisky quarterback, you know, he was okay, he wasn't great. They really couldn't run the football at all. But when you get five turnovers, you know, and you win, by the way, the turnover battle, five zero. You should win the football game. You should. And they did somehow yesterday. Pittsburgh off to a one-and-no start. Cincinnati, the defending AFC champions lose. I wanted to mention just a couple of other games real quickly. The Saints rallied with James Winston leading a 17.4th quarter. They were down 26 to 10. They end up beating the Falcons on a field goal by Will Lutz. 27 to 26. That would have been a bad loss, but I will just say this about Atlanta. Cordarell Patterson is really one of the best players in the league. He really is such a good player.

Marriota was okay. Patterson 22 carries a buck 20 and a touchdown. He also had a few catches. Drake London, remember the receiver from Southern Cal that I think Washington would have drafted with their pick had he been available. London five catches 74 yards in his first game. For New Orleans, it was a slow go until the fourth quarter, and then it heated up. Winston ended up throwing for 269 and two touchdowns. Michael Thomas was back. He had two touchdown catches. Jarvis Landry went over 100 yards.

Chris Salave in his first game, kind of like Jahan Dotson without the touchdowns. Three catches, 41 yards. Tassum Hill really used as a rushing, you know, webbing. and four carries 81 yards for him. I picked the Saints, and it was going to look awful after week one. I wouldn't have bailed, but I'm glad they came back and got the win. The other early game with a team that I like out of the AFC South, I like the Colts this year, they had to rally from a 20 to three deficit to force overtime in Houston against the Texans.

Matt Ryan threw for 352. Jonathan Taylor rushed for a buck 61. They came back. They tied that game, and the game ended after Indy missed a field goal, a chip shot 42-yard or in overtime by Blankenship, the guy with the dark glasses from Georgia. He missed a field goal on the opening drive that would have given the Colts, say, three-point lead. It wouldn't have ended the game in that particular spot because it wouldn't have been a touchdown, but it would have given them a three-point lead.

And then Houston only needed a field goal. And with 20 seconds to go in overtime, they were at their own 50-yard line facing a fourth down and three. And Lovie Smith punted the football. And he played for the tie. Fourth and three, midfield. You know, if you miss it there, Indy's going to have a chance with a completion to be in field goal range.

You've already missed one field goal in overtime. but they're going to have a chance there. Fourth and three, Lovie Smith punted it. I don't think this is a second-guessed because he said they were gassed and they had been struggling on offense. Listen to the previous drives that Houston had had offensively.

In their first overtime drive, they went backwards and punted. They were faced with a fourth and 26. The drive before that was three-place four-yard. The drive before that was five plays 13 yards. The drive before that was two plays minus three yards fumble. The drive before that was a punt. So they had punted or fumbled on one, two, three, four, five straight drives going on to that last drive,

which is why Indy came back from a 20 to three deficit. I don't know that, you know, you can really kill Lovie Smith. He knew his team in that moment. And if they go forward on fourth and three, with a gas team, and Davis Mills takes a sack, and now all of a sudden, Indies at their 38-yard line or 40-yard line with 14 seconds left, and all they need is, you know, five, six yards for field goal range. And he knew that they were gassed, and he didn't feel good about their chances to get the first down.

Take the tie. A tie is better than a loss. So I didn't really have much of an issue after listening to his explanation. The Bears 49ers field, I don't think we've seen a field like that after downpour of heavy rain since the 70s, or at least since San Francisco came to Washington a few years ago. Interesting that San Francisco has been involved in two of the really horrible weather games of the last several years. That field was a mess. Chicago rallies to beat the 49ers in 1910.

You don't think Jimmy Garoppolo is going to play this year. They didn't keep Jimmy Garoppolo because they were confident in Lance. Now, Lance, you know, it's hard to really blame him for the conditions that they were playing in, considering the conditions they were playing in. But he was 13 of 28, all right, less than 50% passing completion percentage, had a pick, no touchdowns, 164 yards throwing it. He did have 54 yards rushing the football. Justin Fields completed only eight passes in the game.

In the entire game, he completed just eight passes. But Chicago wins the game. to 10. The dolphins were impressive. This has been a very good defensive team. Now they've got Tarek Hill to go with Waddle. Look out for the dolphins. I'm serious about that. I know that the Patriots are reeling a little bit and Mack Jones got hurt, but one of the things about the dolphins the last couple of years, they have been very good on defense. They've just lacked playmakers on offense. Waddle and Hill with Tua. They win their opener 20 to 7. The Ravens got a beautiful throw, by the way, from Lamar Jackson.

After he turned down reportedly all of that guaranteed money, like $133 million and guaranteed money, the Watson deal in Cleveland is an aberration people. I think most people know that now, but it really has impacted some of the negotiations since. Jackson's now playing on the fifth year option. That's it. He threw three touchdown passes yesterday, and the Ravens knocked off the Jets 24 to 9. The Jets were a smell test pick.

The Jags were a smell test pick and the Giants were. So one and two there. And then on Saturday I went two and three. So I'm not off to a good start. Three, five and one last week. Three and five this week. So there you go. I do like Seattle tonight.

I like Seattle by the half point play Seattle plus seven. Not an official play, but I think I will be playing Seattle plus the seven tonight. Okay. As crazy as week one was yesterday for the NFL, college football was nuts on Saturday as well. Take the Sunbelt Conference as an example. Appalachian State, 18-point dogs at College Station. Remember App State last week lost to North Carolina in that crazy 63 to 61 game. Appalachian State also remember when they pulled off the all-time upset in the big house against Michigan.

They went to college station in front of 100 and whatever thousand they have as 18 point underdogs and beat A&M, the sixth ranked team in the country, 17 to 14. Insane. Also out of the sunbelt, Marshall was a 20 and a half point underdog. They go into South Bend and they beat the Irish 26 to 21. And then as a 22 and a half point underdog, Georgia. Southern goes into Lincoln and ends mercifully the Scott Frost era at Nebraska. They beat the Huskers 45 to 42, Nebraska 1 and 2 after losing that opener in Dublin, in Dublin to Northwestern.

And Scott Frost is now done at Nebraska. They play Oklahoma this week, too. that was supposed to be a big early season game. The game of the week obviously was Bama and Texas kicking off that Saturday at noon. What a game that was. Texas hung in there without their starting quarterback after he got knocked out in the first half. And really, that would have been a landscape-changing win in the sport had Texas held on after they kicked a field goal late to take a 1917 lead.

but Bryce Young and Bama really came through in the fourth quarter. They survived 15 penalties against Sabin's team, and they beat Texas 20 to 19. Maryland got a win on Saturday afternoon in Charlotte. They were a big favorite, 27-point favorite. They won 56 to 21, 617 offensive yards for the Terps. Pretty much in three and a half quarters, they took their foot off the pedal. Leotunga Viloa was 27 of 31, four touchdowns, 391 yards. I think he's the Big Ten offensive player of the week this week.

Coming up for Maryland, though, is their first legitimate game. Buffalo, they were a heavy favorite, three touchdown favorite, last Saturday 26, 27 point favorite over Charlotte. They were a three and a half point favorite over SMU on Saturday night in college park. Tanner Mordecai is the quarterback at SMU. He's been really good. SMU's been really good offensively. And this game is really potentially the difference between maybe bowl eligibility at the end of the year and non-bowl eligibility.

I think they're much better than they've been. I think this is Loxley's best team. But they've got to win six or seven games to become bowl eligible. I think they can. But part of that was contingent on them winning these first three games. before they get into conference play a week from Saturday in the big house against Michigan, who really looks impressive here early in the season. So big spot for Mike Loxley and the Terps on Saturday night against SMU.

Last thing on the show today, congrats to Francis Tiafo. He made the DMV proud with that big run at the U.S. Open. He lost an epic five-set semi-final match to Carlos Alcarez on Friday night. Al-Corez won it yesterday in four sets. over Caspar Rood. Alcerez, the youngest player in the history of the sport to earn a number one ranking with the win yesterday. He moves up to number one in the world at 19 years old. He has been the guy that people have been talking about for the last year, year and a half. He will have future battles with one Francis Tiafo. That is for sure. But Tiafo was great and put on quite the show

up in New York over the last two weeks. By the way, the U.S. Open drew the most fans it's ever had for a two-week run of the Open. 776,000 people over two weeks. That event is sought after. Always a difficult ticket to get. Okay, we are done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.